You need to vote on November 4, otherwise the interested parties will show up to get their projects that will raise our taxes significantly.
The first bond is $149,000,000 for a tech school we know nothing about. What are the tax implications? There are other troubling issues: Where is it going to be? Who developed the cost? What will be their annual tax? What school district will it be in? The last issue is the most concerning, considering the state is creating new school districts. We might approve a bond for another district.
Does anyone remember when they first asked about a tech center? They said it wouldn’t cost anything.
Another consideration, our regular school tax, with the district thinking it needs to spend $45,000,000 to fix what it has. That doesn’t include the other continually escalating school costs.
The second is the Warren town garage at $9.7M. First, let me say I am 100% behind the new town garage. In particular, to give our road crew a decent place to work.
However, there are several problems with the proposal, the first being the cost, $9,700,000. The town is not asking to bond the actual cost; we are being asked to approve a bond based on estimates. We are telling every contractor that we are willing to pay $9.7M for the current plan, that is not strategically sound when buying services.
We are told it will be a 100-year building shell. With technology rapidly changing, why would one consider investing in soon-to-be-old technology? We might have more efficient, smaller robot trucks that don’t need such a large building. Snow-clearing technology could change in the next 10 years. Heck, the towns might even merge for economies of scale? In the next 20-25 years, people might be using flying cars, and we may not even have to plow roads.
The cost for the building construction and the attendant costs is out of line with reality – $1.6M. An insulated 12,500-square-foot, pre-fab metal building should cost less than $800,000, with a 50-year warranty, not $1.6M.
Our building is 12,210-square-foot, which should cost less. I have seen TV ads from major metal building companies.
The total garage building with finish work is $6.6M. East Montpelier built a new garage, about a thousand square feet less, for about $5.6M.
The HVAC alone is $942,000 to heat this building with radiant heat floors – what? That system will never last 100 years; repairs will be expensive. I have heard from several people that Vehicles don’t fare well with radiant heat floors in the winter.
$450,000 +/- is a more reasonable heating system.
The bid has salary costs for a superintendent and two foremen, which is $200,000 over the average cost for those positions in Vermont; which I researched on various employment sites.
Finally, part of the total cost is a state-required salt shed for $460,000. I believe we can go to a prefab manufacturer and build one for about $380,000.
There are other areas where I believe costs can be cut.
Again, I support a town garage. However, I think the bond should be for $8,000.000 or less, not $9.7M, and based on real and actual bids.
To reduce by $1.7M or so less will reduce our tax burden. Also, I have read that the fed will lower prime again this year and early next year, lowering our borrowing cost.
Please consider the town’s offering $400,000 to the Mad River Path that could be used to lower the garage building cost.
Neighbors, we need to conserve every penny we can on taxes anywhere we can, so most of us can continue to live in The Valley.
How can we have affordable housing with unaffordable taxes?
Bifano lives in Warren.
You might also like
